As most of my fellow fashionistas know, last month’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion week was yet another glamorous success. About 63 designers had their oh so frail models strutting their hottest fall 2009 trends in Bryant Park. A wide array of styles and personalities were present, from luxurious and classic designers such as Oscar de la Renta, with his fabulous fur accents on virtually every piece in his collection, to newcomers such as Zac Posen who brought a little bit of the 80’s back with his wide and padded shouldered look. Sadly, what we didn’t see was a single Greek or Greek-American designer, not one! You may think that’s fine since there aren’t many Greek designers anyway, right? Actually it is quite the opposite, there are many and they are thriving.

While the Hellenic fashion industry is slowly beginning to create a foundation, especially since it began it’s official fashion week 8 years ago, it needs to work on enhancing its marketing and sponsorship skills. A perfect example of this is asking any Greek-American when fashion week takes place in Greece, they probably will look at you puzzled and ask if Greece even has a fashion week. This is a direct result of Grecians not investing their time, efforts and money to promote an industry that can actually boost their economy.

Greece has an eclectic plethora of young designers, such as Ioannis Dimitrousis who stole the show during this past month’s fashion week in London with his extravagant collection of futuristic trousers and elaborately silk crocheted dresses. I also must mention the ever so talented and tres chic Sophia Kokosalaki who recently dressed academy award nominee Anne Hathaway for the MTV Movie Awards. Sophia was one of the first to create the Greek goddess look with an edge by using a rich color palate, textiles and leather. However we don’t hear about Sophia, but we do know and did see that Reem Acra’s Fall 2009 collection drew inspiration from Greece and also chose to dress celebrities to resemble sexy Greek goddesses at many red carpet events. Ioannis and Sophia are just a few of the many designers that should receive more attention and support from the Greeks in the Diaspora, since it really is in our power to help bring them the publicity they deserve. In turn, of course, we can enjoy basking in their glory and the priceless sense of patriotic pride, much like the Italians publicly display when fashion week in Milan is mentioned. A few other talented designers that call Greece their home are Deux Hommes, Patricia Fields, Angelos Bratis, Mi-Ro and of course the trendy yet sophisticated John Varvatos.

I apologize for the rant, however it is extremely frustrating to see the talent that Hellenes possess going unnoticed, yet we have amateurs from Project Runway fully present in Bryant Park with tents and all. If any of you have similar opinions in regards to how Greek designers are portrayed, not supported or appreciated enough, please email me. Perhaps together we can make a difference by reaching out to the organizers of Greece’s fashion week, The Hellenic Fashion Designers Association (HFDA), and giving them our opinion from an outsider’s perspective. HFDA’s website is http://www.hfda.gr/. As usual, I would love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to email me Maria.Athanasopoulos@gmail.com

Maria